Good puzzle would be cross Dublin without passing a pub - Leopold Bloom

The Bloomsday Festival gives you a wonderful opportunity to immerse yourself in Dublin’s living culture and heritage. Traditionally on Bloomsday, people enjoy an exhilarating sea swim in a rocky bathing place known as the Forty Foot. Even if you don’t take the plunge, you can join in the Bloomsday festivities in the picturesque seaside town of Sandycove where the opening chapter of Ulysses takes place. It’s enchanting to sit and relax in one of Dublin’s beautiful parks at the Bloomsday Readings and Song event. Listen to writers, performers and public figures read and perform extracts from Ulysses, making its stories and characters live and breathe.

The Bloomsday Festival offers something for everybody. Food and drink play a big part in Joyce’s Ulysses, so why not join the Joycean Food Trail for a contemporary twist on the food of Ulysses or, on the big day itself, soak up the carnival atmosphere at an Afternoon Tea. And of course, have a pint in one of the many pubs where famous writers like Samuel Beckett, W.B. Yeats and Brendan Behan sought inspiration.

If you’re looking for a Bloomsday pilgrimage, join a bespoke bus tour or one of the many themed walking tours starting from the festival hub, the James Joyce Centre, where expert tour guides and performers entertain you with tales of James Joyce and his characters. If you don’t want to cross Dublin without passing a pub, then check out the Joyce of Whiskey tour or pub crawls.

James Joyce has had a lasting impact on the cultural landscape of Ireland and indeed the world. Ulysses explores the mundanities of daily life through an innovative and experimental writing style. Upon its publication, the novel was praised, attacked, censored, and banned. It has since been lauded as a classic, cementing Joyce’s position as an important modernist writer who gave Dublin to the world through literature. Today, Joyce continues to inspire writers, musicians, artists, and filmmakers. Each year, the Bloomsday Festival presents new work influenced by Joyce’s life and works.

For the Bloomsday Festival 2019, there’s the theatrical production Bloominauschwitz, a compelling tale that combines the original story of Leopold Bloom with his Hungarian Jewish heritage. Or for something light-hearted, get into the ‘midsummer madness’ atmosphere with the bawdy Poetry Brothel or Bloomsday Blowout, a literary variety show.